Protecting a hearing of a person may be difficult in conditions where hearing protection is desired at a time of an event but not desired until the event. This is particularly true for shooters, where hearing protection is not desired until the firing of a firearm. For example, a hunter may desire hearing protection at the time of firing a firearm but the hearing protection is not desired until the firing of the firearm so that the hunter may hear ambient sound naturally and unchanged for better hunting.
A person may use a variety of hearing protection devices to protect the persons hearing, however each of the hearing protection devices have disadvantages. For example, earplugs may be used, however the earplugs remain stuck in the ears of a user even when the earplugs are not needed and thus prevent the person from hearing ambient sound. For example, a hunter may plug his ears with earplugs to protect his ears at a time of firing a firearm, but the earplugs prevent the hunter from hearing ambient sounds like a location of game, a location of a dog, or verbal communication from another hunter. In another example, noise cancelling earplugs may be used, however the noise cancelling earplugs do not allow the user to hear unchanged ambient sound. Instead, noise cancelling earplugs inject reproduced ambient sound into the ears which is not the same as hearing the ambient sound naturally. For example, the noise cancelling earplugs receive ambient sound and inject digitally reproduced sound into the ears of the user that is distorted and thus not the same as the natural ambient sounds. Moreover, the earplugs are uncomfortable to use because the earplugs prevent heat from dissipating from the ears, causing the ears to perspire and the user to overheat.
Accordingly there remains a need in the art for a hearing protection system, allowing the user to hear ambient sound naturally and more comfortably, until the hearing protection system is needed to protect the ears from a loud noise.